Our prayers and best wishes go out to Raymond Leo Burke who will join the College of Cardinals on November 20. The Cardinal-designate was the Archbishop of Saint Louis from 2004-2008. I had the privledge of serving on the altar with him when he was here, both at the Cathedral Basilica and at parish confirmations. He’s a gentle, humble man who always seemed to enjoy interacting with the people.

In spite of the efforts of the local press to paint him as some kind of tyrant, nothing could be further from the truth. As one of 250 deacons in the Archdiocese, I was always impressed and a little amazed that whenever I met him, he knew who I was. He was always focused on the person he was talking to.

Speaking of media, I realize that midwesterners always feel we’re being slighted by the national press. Here in “flyover country” we expect to be ignored and usually are. The major winter storm that buries Saint Louis in snow is a footnote on the national news. But, when it hits the east coast, it suddenly turns into the biggest event of the century.

Case in point: Todays Washington Times story on the new Cardinals. Of course the focus of the Times story is Cardinal-designate Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington. That’s cool. No problem with that. But the Times story includes the following:

The new cardinals include Archbishop Raymond Burke, the former La Crosse, Wis., bishop who now leads the Vatican’s supreme court.

No offense intended to the good folks in La Crosse, but Archbishop Burke’s most recent American assignment was as Archbishop of Saint Louis. The Gateway City, sometimes referred to as the Rome of the West is substantially larger than La Crosse and is an ARCHdiocese, and not just because of that big shiny monument on the river front.

I know, it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but by ignoring Abp. Burke’s four years in Saint Louis is either a major oversight, or a deliberate slight. Either way, it’s not good journalism.

That’s my rant for today. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for another post later today.